Joker's Wild
by Irken Mistress
Summary: By chance, Aoko and Ran stumble upon each other, soon coming up with a plot to get revenge on Aoko's childhood friend Kaito Kuroba! The twosome get together a group and set their plan in action...but will it backfire? R&R please! I reposted this story fo
1. The Desire For Revenge

Disclaimer: I don't own Magic Kaitou or Detective Conan. Sucks for me, but guess what? You don't own it either! Haha! Sucks for ALL of us! All I own is a deck of cards.  
So now, without further ado, here is chapter one to my first Detective Conan fanfiction…

I present to you…

* * *

**Joker's Wild  
**_by DDRAng3l_

**I. The Desire For Revenge**

She wanted to kill him.

She wanted to rip him to shreds, glue him back together, and rip him apart again. How could he? That complete idiot! Always outsmarting everyone one way or the other, never falling for anyone else's pranks no matter how hard an opposing other tried.

She wanted to _kill _him.

Someone had to get him back. A lot of people needed to get him back, but despite the countless attempts, everyone seemed to fail miserably. Either that or it backfired on the other person, too. Anyone who seemed to mess with him usually ended up embarrassed or all hope taken away from them at ever getting him back.

Oh, she wanted to **kill **him!

Aoko Nakamori stormed out of school, arms crossed, books held close to her chest. She looked awfully violent when enraged, so she made a path through everyone who had already crowded around. They seemed to split for her or dodge out of her way in fear of being run over. She didn't care of course. She didn't want to see his face, hear his voice, hear his footsteps behind her. She wanted nothing to do with the complete pervert who would not give her a break…

Kaito Kuroba.

How she despised that name. Of course, she had finally learned to wear shorts under her skirt, but nothing could have protected her from that horrible incident that had happened earlier…with the tofu… Aoko shuddered as she turned to walk down the sidewalk to her house, passing other students who were doing the same. She felt herself turning crimson as she recalled everyone staring at her and Kaito at lunch…. It was horrible, it could never have been worse. She passed a blur of more people.

"Oh, Kaito I'm going to kill you…" she said to herself. Aoko felt her shoulder hit the shoulder of another girl's, both of their books falling to the ground.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" the other girl said quickly, kneeling down to scoop her books up.

"It's fine." Aoko said to the girl. She looked at her as she picked up her own books from the ground. "This is actually one of the better things that happened to me today.

"I'm sorry." The other girl said. She stood up and tucked a piece of her long brown hair behind her ear. Aoko stood up as well, brushing herself off.

"Hey, your from Tetain, aren't you?" Aoko said, looking at the other girl's uniform.

"Yes, I am." She said. "I couldn't help but hear you said you were going to kill someone…"

"This kid Kaito. He's really a jerk…"

"Kaito?"

"Kaito Kuroba."

"I've heard about him." The other girl said. "Isn't he supposed to be a pervert…?"

"Yep. I've known him since I was really little."

"Oh, so your always stuck with him, then."

"Yeah…"

The two gave a small laugh as the crowd around them seemed to die down.

"I'm Aoko Nakamori, by the way." She said extending a hand.

"Ran Mouri." The other girl said, giving her hand a shake. "And I'm sorry about Kaito." She added.

"Eh, it always happens. I just wish I could get him back."

"Get him back for what?"

"Everything. He always plays tricks on people…he's just a jerk sometimes."

"I know someone like that…" Ran muttered, thinking back to her best friend the detective geek. "It's just not as severe, thank God."

"But I mean, Kaito just likes to pick on everyone. Especially me…today really ticked me off."

"What happened?"

"Tofu incident…" she said, looking down turning pink. "Don't ask."

"That bad?"

Aoko nodded solemnly. "I've gotta think of someway to get him back. I will, it'll just take a while."

"You know, I could try and help." Ran said informatively. Of course, she had just met Aoko, but felt quite a bit sorry for her. She even felt they had a bit in common as they conversed.

"You could?" Aoko said, looking to Ran, her eyes wide. "But, we've just met and all, I mean…"

"I know, but the way you talk about Kaito, it seems like something needs to be done."

"Something's needed to be done for a very long time."

"Well, I think I can get a few people to help out."

"Like a team?"

"Well, I have a good friend who's a, well, a 'detective', and one of his, er, friends is one as well. Plus his girlfriend may even help out."

"We could get him back! And plus, with two brilliant detective minds on the team, we could do some real damage!" Aoko said enthusiastically.

"Brilliant…hmm." Ran said, highly doubtful Shinichi and Heiji were something a _tiny_ bit short of brilliant. Of course, Aoko seemed to pay no attention to this comment.

"We'd have to really mess with his head. It takes a lot to trick him."

"I think we can create a few ideas. How hard can it be?" Ran said with a shrug. "I can get in touch with Shinichi…I doubt he'll have the heart to call Heiji up, though. They're almost mortal enemies…" she continued, only to find Aoko seemed to be a bit, well, lost in her own little world of plotting.

_'I'm sure Kazuha will be up for it, and possibly Sonoko…. Yeah, those four ought to be helpful, so, that's six…' _

"Ran, you ok? You seemed to be in your own little world…plotting." Aoko said, looking at her with a concerned expression.

"Takes one to know one, I suppose." Ran muttered.

"Huh?"

"Oh, nothing! Aoko, you free tonight?"

"I can be."

"Then I can try to round everyone up. We can start a game plan, maybe meet at Shinichi's…it's sure big enough…"

"Who's _everyone_?"

Ran sighed, a bit discouraged. Aoko wasn't turning out to be the brightest light as she hoped she would be. But she had to know a thing or two about Kaito. Ran was a bit shocked at herself for being so into something that hadn't even yet been planned or thought out. But it was worth a shot.

After talking over some more details about when to meet up, Aoko then set off to her own house, while Ran set off to hers.

"Ok, now to get everyone together…"

She grabbed her cell phone and opened the cover, dialing Shinichi's number frantically. She pushed send, then put the phone up to her ear, walking briskly now, anxiously waiting for him to pick up.

_Riiiiiiing… Riiiiiiiing… Riiiii - _

"Yeah?" came a bored voice

"Shinichi! It's me." Ran said quickly into the phone.

"No need to yell it…"

"Listen, I need to ask you a favor. You know that kid Kaito, right?"

"I think you mean Kaito KID, Ran…"

"No, that kid from the school that everyone talks about…all the girls said he's a pervert…?"

"Oh yeah, I've heard guys talk about how far he's –"

"Shinichi!"

"Sorry. It's true."

"Anyways, I met his best friend today, this girl named Aoko Nakamori."

"Nakamori, yeah, I heard he had a daughter."

"Yeah…anyways, she says he needs to be paid back. So, can you help us out?"

"What's in it for me?"

"Don't be selfish. Please Shincihi? It'll be fun!"

Shinichi sighed and Ran crossed her fingers.

"Fine." He said after a few moments.

"Yay! Oh, er, can I ask something else?"

"I guess."

"Can you call Heiji and ask him to bring Kazuha over to your house tonight so we can meet up and go over plans?"

"Hattori! Ran, have you lost your mind? I'm not going to ask him to help –"

"Please! It'll help if we have a lot of people."

"No."

"Please, Shinichi!"

"I don't even know why I'm doing this for some girl I don't know to get back a guy who hasn't done anything wrong…"

"He's outsmarted everyone."

"Please. I could easily outsmart him."

"Then call Heiji and tell him to bring Kazuha if you want to do this!" she protested desperately.

"…fine."

"Yay! We'll meet up at your place around eight."

"Wha –"

"Gotta go, bye!"

"Ra –"

Ran snapped her phone shut, relieved. She had won half the battle, not if he could jus get those two morons to behave and think of something. "Guys always like a challenge…to show off." Disgusted and thankful for this aspect of a guy's nature at the same time, Ran continued to walk home, tickled she had gotten her way.

Shinichi sat on his couch, phone in hand, his thumb over the first digit in Heiji's number. He had been sitting this way ever since he got off the phone with Ran…which was for about five minutes. Finally he heaved a sigh and began to punch in his number.

"The things I do for you, Ran…" he sighed.

_Riiiiiiing… Riiiiiiiiing… Riiiiiiiiing… Riiiiiiiiing… _

"Damn, what are you doing Hattori?" he whispered annoyed.

"Hello?" came a voice.

Shinichi cussed in his mind. "Hey, Hattori."

"Why the hell are you calling me? I was in the middle of something."

"Ran wanted me too."

"Well, what does she need?"

"She wanted to know if you and Kazuha wanted to help get back at this kid Kaito."

"Don't you mean Kaito KID? Your one to mess that up, Shinichi…"

"No you idiot, this kid at this other school named Kaito."

"Oh, I've heard of him!" came a female's voice.

"Eh, Kazuha?" Shinichi asked.

"Give it." Kazuha snapped. Shinichi heard a struggle then Kazuha's calm voice. "Yeah, he's a real pervert…everyone talks about what a genius he is though. Everyone wants to get him back."

"Yeah, well, that's what Ran and this Aoko girl want to do. So, ya'll wanna be a part of it?"

"Of course!"

"A part of what?" came Heiji's voice.

"This plan to outsmart Kaito." Kazuha said to him.

"I can outsmart him any day." Kazuha sighed then talked to Shinichi again.

"So, like a team?"

"I'm not working with –OW!" Heiji yelped.

"Yeah, like a team." Shinichi said.

"We're in! When do we meet up?" she said enthusiastically. "HEY!"

"Yeah, when?" Heiji said.

"Oh, my house at eight tonight."

"I think I know where that is…the really big one, right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

"I'll let you get back to Kazuha – I mean, whatever you were in the middle of."

"Shut up, you bastard."

"See ya."

"That was mean, Heiji –" Kazuha said before Shinichi hung up the phone with great joy. He wouldn't have to put up with anyone for almost five whole hours, which was seemingly a miracle. Maybe it'd be fun plotting against someone, out smarting them and showing off a bit…maybe Ran would be a bit impressed… Either that or she'd think it was flat out stupid.

But it was her idea, after all.

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Good? Bad? Absoloutley dreadful? Leave a comment. It's a simple as 'I liked it.' or 'I hated it.' More than three words would be nice...but still. R&R, because it will bring world peace. ...okay, not really, but it's a kind gesture all the same.

Heads up, I will be changing my pen name so it is not DDRAng3l. Just telling you in advance! 


	2. Place Him Behind The Eight Ball

Ok, if it seemed like they all went to the same school, I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to seem like that! The twosomes all go to different schools like in the manga and anime. Sorry once again for any confusion! I also apollogize for any text errors, the edit thing doesn't like to work with me...

Disclaimer: We all know I don't own it, otherwise Magic Kaitou would be in English by now and have more than three volumes released. So, you don't own it, I don't own it…problem solved. Oh, I also don't own the Bellagio or the Tokyo International Airport…just for the record.

Thank you's this chapter: Thank you Spooki for correcting me on the age Shinichi's parents left! That could've been a horrible mistake. And also, Karo, thank you for the correction on the spelling of 'Bellagio'.

Now I present to you…

* * *

**Joker's Wild**  
_by DDRAng3l_

**II. Plan One: Place Him Behind The Eight Ball **

Anticipation had been spreading inside Ran like a wildfire. She and Aoko were walking to Shinichi's house, both silent, but obvious excitement between them. Aoko seemed a bit timid of course, since she knew no one who was going to be there with the exception of Ran. Of course, Ran had already talked over with her that everyone was nice and she had no reason to worry. Of course, this could turn out to be a lie if two certain people didn't want to get along.

The two rounded a corner, now only a few houses down from Shinichi's. Ran began to walk a little faster and Aoko followed close behind. Finally the two reached his house after a bit more walking. Ran stopped in her tracks in front of the house, and Aoko did the same…except her jaw dropped.

"This is his house?" Aoko stuttered.

"Yeah, his parents were pretty rich, and then they moved to America when Shinichi was onlythriteen or so…" Ran said beginning to make her way to the doorway. "So he lives alone."

"Wait…Kudo Shinichi? My dad works with him…"

"So he told me. So there's another person you sort of know."

Ran gave a knock on the door, and in moments Shinichi swung open the door, looking at the two. Ran peered around him, a smile spreading across her face. "You called him!" she exclaimed, spotting Kazuha giving her a friendly wave and Heiji giving her a bit of a glare, arms crossed, obviously quite unhappy to be there.

"Eh, yeah." Shinichi muttered. "Well, come in." he continued.

Ran nodded and the two walked in, sitting on a couch in Shinichi's living room next to Kazuha and Heiji.

"Oh, Ran?" Shinichi said after closing the door and walking to the living room.

"Yeah?" Ran responded.

"What the hell is that doing here?" he barked, pointing to a girl Ran recognized immediately as Sonoko looking at pictures on a mantle piece.

"I told you, she called me, too. I'm not one to be left out." Sonoko said informatively to Shinichi, turning around, her short hair swishing a bit in her face. She crossed her arms and gave him a 'humph' before turning her attention to Ran and Aoko.

"Glad you could come, Sonoko." Ran said, giving her friend a smile that was quickly returned.

"Glad you thought to call."

"Ok, well, er, this is Aoko as you may have figured out already…" Ran started, making a motion to Aoko. Aoko turned a soft shade of pink. "And that's Sonoko," she said to Aoko, pointing to Sonoko. "Then there's Heiji, Kazuha, and you know Shinichi."

"Yeah, I've seen you before." Shinichi said to Aoko as he sat on the armchair of the sofa she and Ran occupied. "So, what're we going to do about this Kaito…? That's the reason we're here, isn't it?"

"You mean Kaito KID?" Sonoko said, standing up straight as a smile spread across her face.

"No." Everyone said in unison, a bit bored with correcting everyone or being corrected.

"Oh." Sonoko said, a bit crestfallen. Her smile fell, and she leaned back up against the wall.

"Anyways, that's why we called everyone here. We need a plan to really mess with him, because he's always getting people –"

"Leave it to me." Shinichi and Heiji said at the same time, both sitting up straight before they had realized what happened. Then the two stared at each other, in a state of shock before giving the other a scowl.

"We need everyone to help think of something, not one person!" Kazuha shot, giving Heiji a nudge in the arm.

"Right, Kazuha's got the idea." Ran said, thankful for Kazuha more than anything for keeping one person under control. Now if Shinichi just wouldn't be so boastful but more on the cunning thinking side. "So as I was saying, we need a plan that could completely stump him."

"He doesn't know any of us except for Aoko, so he wouldn't know we plotted anything, would he?" Sonoko asked.

"Exactly, that was we would have a better variety of things we could do." Ran said, happy her friend had caught on.

"It can't be miniscule, and it's has to be good then?" Heiji said to Ran, looking at the ground, obviously thinking hard.

"Right, he's good from what I hear." Ran responded, looking to Aoko. "You know his weaknesses, don't you Aoko?"

"Well, yeah…" Aoko said softly.

"What's something that he hates, or is terrified of?"

Aoko giggled. "He's deathly afraid of fish…"

"Your kidding…fish?" Shinichi said looking at Aoko disbelievingly. "What kind of a moron is this?"

"A big one, who is coincidently a genius." Aoko said.

"A genius."

"You really have no idea."

Shinichi snorted. Aoko gave him a firm glare, and he looked away. She almost seemed a little bit like Ran… Maybe that's why the two hit it off so well.

"Any other fears?" Kazuha suggested to her.

"Not that I can think of…he's pretty –"

"We could call him up and play the old jump and die trick." Sonoko said quickly.

"Sonoko! We are not involving death!" Ran said quickly.

"Come on, it's harmless."

"No, no it's not. Anything else?"

"Well, let's think, what is he completely vulnerable to?" Heiji said.

"I'll bet he's never been to America." Shinichi snickered.

"Shinichi! That's brilliant!" Ran exclaimed standing quickly, a broad smile on her face.

"Wha – I mean, of course it's brilliant." Shinichi said, giving Heiji a very distinct 'I told you so' look. Heiji glared at him the looked to Ran.

"He has no idea what he just said, Ran." Heiji implied. Shinichi could have strangled him. "Why don't you explain it slowly to him?"

"Why don't you explain it, Heiji?" Kazuha shot at him. Heiji opened his mouth to speak, but realized that he didn't quite understand what he was talking about either. "My point exactly. Now, what were you thinking, Ran?" Kazuha continued, interested in what she had to say.

"What if we took Kaito to America? It's perfect, he has no idea what goes on there, plus Shinichi's parents live there, so we could always look to them for some help…"

"That's great, Ran!" Aoko said, thrilled. "And from there we could even play with his head some more."

"Exactly." Ran said, extremely proud at her own brilliance in the situation. She put her hands on her hips, standing very tall. _'How's that for a plan, Shinichi?' _

"There's a problem in your plan, Ran." Shinichi said quickly. Ran lost balance and almost fell over. "You need a reason for him to go to America."

"Oh." Ran said, crestfallen. She slumped back down on the couch, crossing her legs.

"Shinichi, do you have a computer with internet?" Aoko asked, now taking Ran's place by standing to her feet.

"Uh, yeah," Shinichi started. "But why do you – "

"Just let me use it." Aoko said, quite impatiently.

"Yes, drill sergeant…" Shinichi muttered, standing to his feet, walking to the room where his computer was. Ran, Kazuha, and Heiji stood up, following the two. Sonoko abandoned her place against the wall as well, joining up with Ran and giving her one of those looks that asked if Aoko was crazy. Ran shook her head at Sonoko and noticed Heiji and Kazuha were whispering to each other, seemingly about the same topic.

"Er, here." Shinichi said, pulling out a chair in front of the computer. Aoko sat down and began typing frantically as soon as she opened the Internet. "Why do you need to do this any –" Shinichi started.

"Kaito has been ranting about this magician convention thing or something in Las Vegas for weeks." Aoko said, a big smile on her face. "He keeps on telling me how he would go if he had tickets. So, this could be a way to get him there…here! This is it, the World Magician's Convention…held at the Bellagio on May 6th!"

"That's tomorrow!" Sonoko said, peering over Aoko's shoulder. "You actually think we can get tickets? Let alone get there on time?"

"It works out because of the time zone, so if we left at 6:30 A.M., we'd get there aroun 8:30 A.M. on the same day." Shinichi said very matter-of-factly.He sighed, looking at all the confused faces around him."It just _works._I'll explain sometime.And I could get tickets." Shinichi said.

"How?" Heiji shot.

"Some people owe me a few favors." Shinichi responded, a smile on his face to Heiji's disgust.

"Ok, May 6th, Bellagio…we can just stay at the Bellagio…but how would that work?" Aoko continued.

"What do you mean 'how would that work'?" Ran asked, looking at her quizzically.

"I mean, to set up everything, Kaito can't know all of our faces, otherwise he'd be suspicious if he saw us in weird places all at the same time." Aoko said, her gaze still on the screen. "What can we do about that?"

"I see what you mean…"

"Plus, we may not be able to get that many rooms, considering it's a 'world' convention." Kazuha added with a sigh.

"Well, we have a few options. Kaito stays in one room, and all of us stay in another room." Heiji suggested. Everyone shook their heads at this. "Ok, er, Kaito could know either Shinichi or myself, and the other could stay with you four." Heiji said looking at the girls. They all gave him a glare. "Or, we could just change our appearances as we go and all the guys could stay in a room and all the girls in another." Heiji finished quickly before Kazuha could give him a slap for suggesting the idea before his previous one.

"I wouldn't mind that." Sonoko said to Heiji's last statement. Ran nodded and looked to Kazuha and Aoko for approval.

"I'm all for it." Kazuha snapped, crossing her arms and looking away from Heiji. Aoko gave Ran a look of agreement.

"Now all we have to worry about is everyone emerging alive from the guy's room." Ran said, putting her hand on her hip, looking from Heiji to Shinichi unsurely. Thankfully the two had been getting along a bit better than before, all though Ran doubted that it would hold up.

"What? I never start anything!" Shinichi said, Heiji gave a snort, and looked away from him, just in time to not receive a glare from him.

"Ok, just shut up a second!" Sonoko said, looking back to Aoko. "So, Shinichi's getting plane tickets, now whose reserving two rooms?"

"I will." Kazuha said. "I'll get on it tomorrow, though we may not have the nicest rooms available…"

"I can help you out there." Heiji said, looking to Kazuha. "Believe it or not, some people owe me favors, too."

"Liar."

"Am not."

"Right."

"What?"

"Nothing. I'll just leave it to you to get reservations then."

"Well, fine."

Ran looked at the two, then to Shinichi. "So, then everything's covered. You have to get those plane tickets as soon as possible. Aoko needs to surprise Kaito."

"I'll have 'em by tomorrow." Shinichi said. "You can go ahead and tell him though, Aoko. Just build up the anticipation."

"And what about the other stuff we're going to pull on him in America?" Aoko asked.

"We'll play that by ear."

"All right, well, what day do you want to leave?"

"I say if we can get tickets by tomorrow, we go on a flight tomorrow." Sonoko suggested.

"Yeah, so make sure you can get out of school for a few day's time. I mean, half of it's over the weekend." Kazuha said.

"Right, I'll tell you times and everything as soon as I figure it all out. It might even be a good idea to get everything done tonight…" Shinichi said.

"Yeah, I'll get on it." Heiji said, before a long pause and a look at Aoko. "But if we're leaving tomorrow, all of us know about it. We just wont show up at school…but, Aoko, your gonna have to sneak out."

"I'm gonna have to what?" Aoko said as her jaw dropped.

"You need to sneak out with Kaito as soon as you can, and, psht, I dunno, get a cab or something."

"Have you lost your mind?"

"Do you want to do this or not, Aoko?" Shinichi snapped. "We've got it planned out and all we need is for you to do this."

"But, I've never snuck out…"

"You haven't?" Sonoko asked, a bit astounded.

"Sonoko…?" Ran said, tilting her head and looking at her.

"Well, oh, that's beside the point!" Sonoko protested, turning back to Aoko. "Still, it's easy, just fake having to go do something and have Kaito do it at the same time. Then meet up and get out."

Aoko nodded and swallowed hard. "O-okay." She said. "I'll do it."

"Yes, this is perfect. We'll put him completely behind the eight ball!" Shinichi said enthusiastically.

"Um, what's that mean…?" Kazuha questioned.

"It's, er, old detective slang for putting someone in a bad position, kind of like a tight spot." Shinichi explained. There was a unanimous 'oh' from everyone after.

"Well, then I'll leave you to it." Sonoko said. "We're are we gonna meet up? Airport?"

"Can you get there, Aoko?" Ran asked.

"Uh, sure, I guess." She responded, thoughts racing through her mind as she tried to process all of this.

"Great, then we'll meet there around ten. So make the flight at around eleven or so, would ya Shinichi?" Sonoko said, seeming to jump ahead of herself once again.

"Uh, I'll try for somewhere around there. So, get out as soon as you can, Aoko." Shinichi said to her. Aoko stood up and the group moved once again to the living room. "Well, that's it…have your bags packed and, well, we'll meet up tomorrow."

Everyone began to file out the door, Aoko beckoning for Ran to hurry up.

"I'll be right there." Ran said to Aoko. Aoko shut the door behind her, leaving just Ran and Shinichi alone. "Uh, Shinichi?"

"Yeah?" Shinichi responded, looking to her.

"Thank you so much." Ran said, throwing her arms around his neck.

_'Not to long, not to long…' _

Ran broke apart from him quickly.

"Yeah, uh, no problem…" Shinichi said, dumbfounded.

"Well, er, okay…" Ran stuttered. Silence fell over the twosome for a few moments.

"See you in the morning, Ran." Shinichi said, going to open the door for her, as she seemed a bit unable to.

"Uh, oh! Yeah, see you." She said, walking out of the door, turning a small shade of pink. "Thanks again, this is really great of you." She said before meeting up with Aoko.

"No problem." Shinichi said, giving her a wave. "Good luck, Nakamori!" he added with a small laugh. Aoko shot him a smile and gave a small wave.

"I'll need it!" she called back to him. The two girls left, leaving Shinichi standing outside his door.

_'Let the fun begin.' _Shinichi thought to himself.

Aoko walked in to her classroom at 7:56 the next morning. Her heart was pounding as she took a seat in her desk, her eyes at the door waiting anxiously for Kaito to walk in at any moment. She tapped her fingers on her desk, tapping her foot…doing everything a person who was nervous would do. Thankfully though, Aoko avoided whistling.

_'Everything will be fine…we don't have to leave for almost an hour and a half…'_

"Nervous?" came a voice from behind her. Aoko jumped and looked behind her quickly, only to see Akako.

"N-no! Why would you think that?" Aoko insisted, looking into her dark eyes, completely at unease.

"Your showing signs. And I can sense it."

"Um…"

"Aoko!" came a friendly voice.

"Oh, hello, Keiko." She said, jumping once again to see her best friend behind her.

"You ok?" Keiko asked, her glasses sliding.

"Yeah, yeah, fine."

"Aroko!"

"What?" Aoko screamed, turning around for a third time.

"J-just saying hi." The chestnut haired boy said to her.

"Kaito!" she exclaimed. "I need to talk to you." She said, leaping out of her set and grabbing him by the arm.

"Isn't this kind of sudden, Aroko?" Kaito said, raising an eyebrow. Then he gave a sigh. "Better late than never I suppose…"

"NO! It's different!" she said, lowering her voice. "You know that World Magician Convention you've been ranting about?"

"Yeah, what? Did you finally show interest in it?"

"No, I got you plane tickets to go to it."

Kaito's bright blue eyes widened. "You did wh-" Aoko clapped her hand over his mouth.

"There's a catch." She dropped her voice even lower. "We have to sneak out of school in about an –" Aoko heard her cell phone beep. She freed Kaito from her grasp and began to dig through her backpack frantically. She flipped open the cover, seeing the text 'one new message'.

She accepted the message, seeing it was from Ran's cell phone. Praying nothing was wrong, Aoko read the text that had been sent:

'Plane leaves at 9:30. Be here at 8:45. Meet us at gate 5G. Sorry! – Ran'

"Oh, shit!" Aoko hissed, beginning to worry. Keiko raised an eyebrow at her. Aoko looked to Akako, who wore a grim smile across her face. Aoko felt tears burning in the corners of her eyes. She walked back to Kaito and opened her mouth to speak.

"We have to go now." She whispered.

Kaito looked at her with a grim smile on her face. "You've never snuck out before…have you?" he said softly back. Aoko shook her head. The bell rang to switch classes.

_'I'm in trouble…dammit…' _

"It's what, eight now? Say you have to go to the bathroom or something at around 8:05. I'll meet you out front of classroom 4B." he said calmly. Aoko had a look of fear across her face. Kaito gave her a smile. "It'll be fun, don't worry!" And with that, Kaito gave her a wink and left to his next class.

Aoko was in a state of shock and panic by this time. She rushed out of the room and to her next class, Keiko beside her, a bit concerned. Akako on the other hand seemed relatively happy. Aoko took a deep breath or two and bid goodbye to Keiko to go to her first class. It was now 8:03.

As the bell rang, Aoko walked in, sitting at her desk quickly.

8:04.

Everyone had settled down from the bustle in the hallway, and the teacher had begun to speak about the day's lesson.

30 seconds.

She could just ask now, save herself for a moment…

15 seconds.

Aoko's hand shot up in the air after a few more moments of preparation.

"Yes, Nakamori?"

"May I use the restroom?"

_'Say yes, say yes, PLEASE say yes…' _

"I don't know, Nakamori…" Aoko's face went pale white. She was on the verge of tears…. "Of course you can."

There was a mutter of dry laughter as Aoko nodded in thanks, not finding the joke funny at all. She grabbed her backpack quickly and bolted to classroom 4B as soon as she opened the door. She ran as fast as she could down the hallway, only to see Kaito with his arms crossed, comfortably leaning his back against the door, backpack on his shoulder.

"What took you so long?"

"Shut up."

"I didn't even go to my class."

"Why didn't you tell me to do that!"

"It would've looked suspicious." Kaito said, standing up. "Plus, you need experience and practice in these things, Aroko." He gave her a wink, and Aoko gave him a glare, wishing she had thought to bring her mop. "So, what's the hurry?"

"We're meeting a few people there." She said, beginning to walk down the hallway. Kaito followed her, hands in his pockets. "And we have to be there at 8:45."

"Then why are you walking?" Kaito asked, breaking into a run. Aoko did the same, racing to the door. The two ran down the hallway before a figure emerged in front of them from around a corner. Kaito grabbed Aoko's sleeve and pulled her around a corner. Aoko opened her mouth to speak, but Kaito answered her question.

"Akako."

"Oh who cares?"

"She can be against you, you know."

"Let's just go!"

Aoko began to take off, followed by Kaito. She held her breath, hoping Akako wouldn't stop them. She was mere feet away from her.

"Good luck." Akako hissed to her.

Aoko was dumbfounded. "Uh…thanks, Akako…" she said a bit confused as her hand reached for the door handle. She yanked it open and ran out, down the steps, Kaito alongside her.

"What now?" Kaito said, a bright smile on his face.

"We have to get to the airport." Aoko said, stopping in her tracks. "How're we gonna do that?"

"We could jack a car –"

"KAITO!"

"Or we could take the bus, and the nearest stop is about 2 blocks away. Plus I don't know when people are picked up." Aoko gave him a firm look. "Ok, I do know when…but couldn't we jack –"

"No."

"Fine. Then your running some more." Kaito took off and made a right on the sidewalk, Aoko just behind him.

"Can't you slow down? It's hard to run in a skirt!"

"Then take it off." He said, looking ahead. Of course, he wouldn't take the risk of saying something like this, had Aoko been carrying her mop. But since she hadn't been…

"PERVERT!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Just run!"

The two couldn't have looked any weirder – two high school students in their uniforms running down the street at top speed. Aoko was just happy they had gotten out of school without being caught, but now, anyone could catch them. Not to mention she was an inspector's daughter, and getting caught would be bad for his image as well.

They must have passed one block by now with the way Aoko was tiring out, carrying her backpack on her shoulder. She thought she must have looked so stupid, asking to go to the bathroom and taking her backpack with her…. Aoko felt herself blushing a little bit as she continued to run on.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Aoko said to Kaito in between quick breaths.

Kaito looked down at his wrist watch. "About 8:15, and we're almost there." He looked to Aoko, then straight ahead once again, letting out a laugh. "You worry too much."

"Save your breath." Aoko hissed at him. The thought of just buying a mop when she got to the airport was incredibly tempting. After all, it wasn't considered a 'weapon'. That is in the hands of anyone else.

Finally, after a few more minutes of running, Aoko and Kaito reached the bus stop with only three minutes to spare. Both panting, the slouched onto the park bench beside the bus sign, catching their breath.

"Well, that was fun." Kaito said. "A bit too normal, but fun."

"Normal!" Aoko screamed with the breath she had left. "Are you kidding me? We're still risking it! We're going on a public bus –"

"Nobody rides the bus this late." Kaito said calmly, putting his hands behind his head. "They all go before eight. Everyone knows that."

"The last thing I need is your sarcasm after I'm doing something for you."

"Oh yeah…we are doing this for me, aren't we?" Kaito said, standing up and looking down the street. "Come one, bus's early." Aoko stood at his words by the sign, scared to death she was going to be caught by someone. As the bus pulled up and the doors opened, Kaito entered with a smile, depositing a fare. Aoko followed him, looking around, a scared look on her face.

And sure enough, Kaito was right.

"Excuse me," he said to the driver. "Could you by chance get me to the airport within fifteen minutes or so?" the driver turned around and just gave a nod, no smile, just a nod. He didn't take a second look to see that both Aoko and Kaito were just high school students. "Thanks." He said, walking a few rows down and taking a seat on the right. Aoko followed suit, doing the same.

"He didn't even –"

"Shhh." Kaito said, putting his finger to his lips. Aoko nodded, wondering just how Kaito pulled it off. But then again, he pulled of a lot of stuff, most of it being stuff Aoko wished he hadn't pulled off all of the time.

"Our flight leaves at 9:30, and we'll be meeting up with everyone at about 8:45…or so it's planned." Aoko said, relaxing herself and realizing she had gotten away with sneaking out.

"Who's everyone?" Kaito asked, raising an eyebrow.

"This girl Ran, her best friend Kudo Shinichi whom I'm sure you've heard of…"

"Kudo?" he said.

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?"

"No, just wondering if it was actually the famous detective who was coming with us."

"Yeah, that's him! And his, well, kind of his rival is a detective, too: Hattori Heiji and his girlfriend Kazuha. Then Ran's best friend Sonoko. So, not a lot of people."

"Yeah, not a lot."

_'How the hell did Aoko end up bringing two detectives? Well, guess it's not her fault. But, yes, I do know Kudo…quite well. Wonder how many people he's told about his past dirty little secret. I guess he's back to normal now.' _

Kaito remembered all to well bargaining with little 'Conan'. He had damn near come close to catching KID, too.

_'Damn…I left the getup…it would've been fun going into those casinos…' _

Of course, Kaito knew he wouldn't be able to taunt Kudo about being a little seven year old since that would give away who he was. But maybe he could slip in a 'little' joke now and then…nah, that'd risk it a bit too much. After all, Kudo was one to solve the unsolvable cases…Kaito knew he couldn't slip or suggest anything that'd let him catch on.

"Kaito! Let's go!" Aoko said, already walking out the bus door.

"Right, sorry." Kaito said, scrambling to his feet. "Just thinking." He apologized as he walked to the exit. He nodded in thanks to the driver.

"I just sent a text to Ran, I told her we were here, we just have to catch –" Aoko pointed at the tram coming down the street, "- that one." The two clambered on to the tram, and Aoko fiddled with her cell phone, sending texts as fast as she could punch in letters. Kaito was receiving strange looks from several elder ladies, since he was still in his uniform. If they had been younger he might have said something, but he resisted all temptation, and instead gave them a smile.

"We're almost there…we've gotta bolt in order to catch the plane. They start seating really quickly –"

"Don't worry, Aroko. You worried on the way here, and now we're here in one piece, but your still worried." He said with a yawn. "We're not going to fall apart, you know." He looked at Aoko, who was almost at the point of shaking from anxiety. "I take that back…_you _might snap into a couple of different pieces."

The tram stopped just outside the airport and the two got out. Aoko was in a dead heat to get to the escalators.

"Welcome to Tokyo National Airport…" a cool female voice said over a loud speaker. "All of those on flight 141 –" Kaito gave a snicker at the three numbers, wishing there were four so he could see what his luck would be. "- to Las Vegas, Nevada are boarding now in first class."

Kaito heard a scream at this a short distance in front of him. He shook his head. "Aroko, Aroko, Aroko…" he muttered as he set off in a jog to get to her. After all, she knew where the gate was, Kaito didn't. He finally caught up to her, but was given no choice but to run to keep up.

"5A…" Aoko muttered, looking from left to right. "5B, 5C…there they are!" she said enthusiastically, running up to greet them all. Kaito walked up shortly after her, hands in his pockets.

"So it's true then, what they've been telling me." Shinichi said, looking Kaito over. "The famous Kaito Kuroba has come to the airport."

"You've heard that much about me?" Kaito said with a sarcastic sense of surprise. "Why, I'm just _flattered._" He said holding out his hand like a queen would in England.

"Shut up, would you?" Aoko muttered to him.

"Oh, yes, didn't mean to embarrass you, madam." Kaito said sarcastically, putting his hands by his sides.

"Well, anyways, this is Kaito, everyone." Aoko said. Sonoko gave him a wave at this and a wink. Kaito returned the wink and Sonoko turned a small shade of pink. Ran shot her a glare. "So, shall we board?"

"Yeah, sure." Heiji said. "Kudo, give them their tickets."

"Oh, yeah…" Shinichi fumbled in his carry on for a moment before pulling out two slightly bent tickets. "Here…wait."

"What?" Aoko said, taking hers and Kaito's tickets out of his hand.

"How'd ya'll get past baggage check?"

There was silence. Then, with a sigh, Aoko and Kaito took their backpacks off their shoulders. "Where do you suggest we leave them?" Kaito said, still wearing a small smile. "Ah, never mind." Kaito grabbed Aoko's bag and went up to a coffee shop across the way.

"Nice job, Aoko." Ran said as she watched Kaito converse with the girl who was at the coffee shop. He seemed to be charming her, and Aoko began to blush, a bit embarrassed.

"Er, thanks. I got your text and started freaking out." Aoko confessed.

"Yeah, that was my bad…I didn't see that there actually was a flight at ten…just kinda missed my eyes." Shinichi said, putting his hands behind his head.

"…your lucky your famous." Aoko said. "Otherwise you'd be dead now." She continued. She seemed quite beside herself…hands in fists and everything. And who could blame her? She had to give her bag up, sneak out of school for the first time, _and _get Kaito and her to the airport.

"You can let your anger out sooner or later on the unsuspecting…er, charmer." Shinichi continued, looking over Aoko at Kaito who was now returning without bags.

"Ok, the nice young lady over there is keeping our things." Kaito said, looking over his shoulder giving the girl a wave.

"What'd you say…?" Kazuha asked, looking from the girl to him.

"Oh, it's not that important." Kaito assured her. "Let's go, shall we?"

Aoko felt very content with how the morning went, and they had accomplished their goal. As Shinichi has said the previous night…

Kaito Kuroba was behind the eight ball.

* * *

Was it good? Bad? Both? Please R&R! I'd love to hear your feedback! Really, I NEED to hear your feedback. Your feedback makes my world go around. Well, not really. Butit helps a LOT. Thank you! 


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